Michael Flynn broke the law when accepting foreign funds, and someone should have known

Trump’s White House responded to a House Oversight request for information on Michael Flynn with a big bag of nothing:

The White House declined Tuesday to provide documents related to President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser that the panel investigating Michael Flynn had requested, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

But the White House is slamming this barn door way too late. Information that’s already out there on Michael Flynn shows that what got him in trouble was a lot more than just fumbling a chat with Mike Pence.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have broken the law by taking money from Russia and Turkey without permission, the top lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday.

As a recent military officer, Flynn should have asked permission in advance before accepting money from foreign sources. He didn’t. And he should have reported those payments when applying for security clearance. He flunked that test, as well. But Flynn was not some rogue operator in the wilderness. He was part of Trump’s campaign from the beginning. At best the Trump White House has been ineffective and ignorant. That’s at best.

The most likely answer is simply that they knew. They knew Flynn had taken money from Russian sources. They knew he’d been acting as an unregistered foreign agent. They knew he failed to report all his actions to the Defense Department. They knew he had more extensive contacts with Russia than he was revealing in public. They just didn’t care.